|
|
|
John Steinbreder, GolfersMD News
Nov 08, 2010
|
Getty Images
It’s hard to determine which is even more impressive: Twenty-three-year-old Stacy Lewis lead the U.S. Women’s Open after three rounds in her first golf tournament as a professional and finished tied for third.
Or her even playing the game at all after her battle with the spinal disease called scoliosis that kept her in a brace for seven years and made it impossible for a time for her to lift anything more than five pounds in weight.
Perhaps just as astounding is what she has shown golfers about the virtues of conditioning, and how she has been able to overcome her physical challenges – and maintain her world class talents – in the aftermath of that 2003 operation.
“Hers is a really amazing story,” says GolfersMD expert Dr. Robert Donatelli, National Director of Sports Specific Rehabilitation and Performance Enhancement Programs in Las Vegas. “Most patients I know with scoliosis have difficulty walking let alone playing golf at the level Stacy Lewis does. She is something else.”
Now, Lewis is a special case, and not many people will ever have to deal with the pain and problems the 2007 NCAA individual champion has. But her ability not only to recover from that condition - and the six-hour surgery needed to correct the curvature of the spine that comes with scoliosis – but also to compete at such a high level offers lessons to everyday golfers with much less significant health issues on what proper stretching and strengthening can do for them.
“The No. 1 physical issue for golfers is lower back pain,” says Dr. Donatelli, who has worked with a number of touring pros. “Most golfers I have ever looked at have had problems with that part of their bodies, and in most cases it is an issue of lower trunk and hip strength and endurance. The entire golf swing is stabilized by the trunk, pelvis and hip areas, and if the muscles there are strong enough, they can take a lot of pressure off of the spine, which often does not do well with all the rotations that come with a golf swing.
Clearly, Lewis follows a regular workout regimen that no doubt entails lots of stretching and strengthening of those areas. And Donatelli recommends that weekend golfing warriors develop programs of their own, paying particular attention to working on all four sides of the trunk.
“Muscles are like our shock absorbers,” Donatelli adds. “They control the amount of movement the bones like the spine make in order to prevent damage.”
And the better conditioned those shock absorbers are, the better chances golfers will have to avoid those all-too-common lower back injuries – or recover from them in very good form.
Just like Stacy Lewis.
|
|
|
|
|
|